THE RETURN OF THE NOMINEE | RBG Hopeful Cooler Heads Will Prevail
September 8, 2016
THE RINGER
|As the fight for SCOTUS finds new life, Democrats are bringing in a ringer: VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN. Today, Biden will be on the Hill for another press conference with congressional Democrats to push for a vote on the nomination of JUDGE MERRICK GARLAND.
GUESS WHO'S BACK, BACK AGAIN
|Supreme Court nominee MERRICK GARLAND returns to Capitol Hill this morning to meet privately with SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY, while Senate Democrats continue to drum up attention around his stalled nomination. POLITICO’s Seung Min Kim reports.
GIVE THE WOMAN WHAT SHE WANTS
|Yesterday at the Georgetown University Law Center, JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG showed some optimism for Garland’s nomination, noting she thinks “cooler heads will prevail” in the Senate. She said, “The president is elected for four years, not three, so the power he has in year three continues into year four. And maybe our members of the Senate will wake up and appreciate that that’s how it should be.”
HILL YES OR HILL NO?
|Right now, HILLARY CLINTON‘s best kept secret is her position on the nomination of JUDGE MERRICK GARLAND to the Supreme Court. Bloomberg’s Greg Stohr reports on the question of will she or won’t she, offering up some post-election hypotheticals depending on what she decides to do if she were to move into the White House.
BRING IT ON
|“The Justice Department is seeking to bolster its chances in a Supreme Court immigration case by introducing new information at the final stage of litigation, even though the government was recently forced to apologize for erroneous information provided in this way.” Jess Bravin with The Wall Street Journal reports on Jennings v. Rodriguez which concerns the imprisonment of aliens without bail while immigration cases are pending.
KEEPING MUM
|Kathryn Rubino with Above the Law has a little list going of folks who are not outwardly supporting the nomination of JUDGE MERRICK GARLAND, and right now, it’s a list of only three names. But these three have something very particular and very important in common — They’re all currently clerking for the U.S. Supreme Court.
OTHER NEWS
Obama nominates Muslim judge: Does diversity matter to justice?
The Christian Science Monitor“Experiential diversity used to be a hallmark of high courts, but Mr. Obama has made diversity in race, gender and sexual orientation a priority in his nominations. While the approach has been commended by many, it has also raised the question of why such diversity is necessary at all.”
Judge: Connecticut Education Funding System Unconstitutional
The Associated Press“A judge on Wednesday ordered Connecticut officials to develop plans for a major overhaul of the state’s public education system within six months, saying a huge gap in test scores between students in rich and poor towns shows parts of the system are unconstitutional and irrational.”
Court arguments set on retroactivity of death penalty ruling
The Associated Press“Delaware’s Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on whether its ruling declaring the state’s death penalty law unconstitutional can be applied retroactively to the 13 men currently on death row.”